Apathy to Propagation of Ahmadiyyat
Truth About the Split
Meanwhile the extent of apathy that had come over the Community in the matter of the propagation of Ahmadiyyat may be measured from the fact that whereas in the days of the Promised Messiah (as) it was a matter of complaint on the part of Dr. Abdul Hakim that members of the Jama‘at loved nothing better than to hear about the Promised Messiah (as) and to make him the one theme of all their discourses, in April 1912, when I had occasion to accompany a deputation to visit the various Arabic Madrassas with a view to devising a suitable scheme for the Madrassa Ahmadiyya, and had occasion to deliver lectures at Lucknow, Benares and Cawnpore, I observed that everywhere members of the Jama‘at were anxious that the lectures should contain no reference to Ahmadiyyat. For, they were afraid that in that case people would either not attend the lectures or else would receive them in a hostile spirit. My reply to this was that it was not my object to win popular applause. What I wished was to deliver the message of truth. If people would choose not to hear it or choose to receive it in a hostile spirit, it was their own concern. As for myself, I should only discharge my duty in the sight of God. One man from Lucknow who has since entered into my Bai‘at actually wrote to Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) . "Would that you had sent along with the deputation a man of ripe experience, for these men adopt a method of preaching from which troubles may well be apprehended. Miyań Sahib (i.e. the present writer) is still in his early youth and is apt in his enthusiasm to overlook the suitability of the hour. God forbid that there should occur some violence and our name be brought to odium. There is still time for you to send a person of experience well aware of the need of the times."
When I returned from the tour, Hadrat Khalifatul Messiah informed me of the purport of the letter and expressed his strong disapproval of it. At Lucknow it was originally proposed to deliver two lectures. But after one had been delivered, the other had to be abandoned; and this was mainly due to objections raised by Ahmadis themselves, though, of course, difficulties were raised by opponents of the Jama‘at also. In private interviews, however, we made it a point to convey our message with the greatest possible clearness. The same was our experience in Benares. Ahmadis of this place professed at the time conformity to my views. But they also made the request that the lecture should be general in its purport. The reason they gave was that Khwaja Sahib had made great success with his lectures there and it was not desirable that my lecture should fail to achieve similar success and thus make me compare unfavourably with Khwaja Sahib. I, however, did not accept their advice and delivered lectures on the subject of Ahmadiyyat. The audience was always small but I had the satisfaction of discharging my duty. It is surprising that when at the death of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) , the Jama‘at at Lucknow, who at the time were opposed to my views entered into my Bai‘at, the Jama‘at at Benares who at the time professed agreement with my views held back. May be it was a punishment for the worldliness which they betrayed on the occasion.
In short, people of the Jama‘at in those days were undergoing a peculiar probation. On the one hand, in their heart of hearts they were aware that if they persisted in this policy of avoiding an open mention of the Promised Messiah (as), then the Movement would soon come to an end. On the other hand, after their experience of the practical success which attended the methods of Khwaja Kamaluddin, they felt afraid that the people would refuse to attend any lectures bearing on the distinctive claims of the Movement or if they attended, the numbers attending would be small and would afford the rival party ground for claiming that theirs was the right method—it attracted people in larger numbers to hear their discourses, and helped to increase their acquaintance with Ahmadiyyat, and this acquaintance could lead them ultimately to join the Movement. People of the Jama‘at were thus in a state of complete indecision, even while they disapproved of the methods of Khwaja Sahib, they thought that imitation of those methods was necessary for the success of their aim. They thought that if people in general could be brought to see that in the ranks of the Ahmadiyya Community there were persons better informed than Khwaja Sahib, then automatically their attention would be diverted from Khwaja Sahib, and it would then be time to acquaint them with the facts about Ahmadiyyat. They argued that for an exposure of Khwaja Sahib’s methods it was necessary to employ Khwaja Sahib’s own methods. Such a view however, was a mistake. For, if members of the Jama‘at had followed such a course, they would have come after a time to assume the same character as Khwaja Sahib and would ultimately have gone astray from the aims of the Ahmadiyya Movement. Their safety and success lay as before in using every suitable opportunity to proclaim the truth of the Promised Messiah (as) without any thought of the size of their audiences or the measure of their popularity. Besides, it was a mere fancy to apprehend that the public would refuse to hear our lectures.
People are attracted to lectures by the reputation of those who speak rather than by the subjects on which they speak. A well-known lecturer undertaking to speak even on a commonplace subject would attract a large number of people to hear him. It is another matter that after hearing him they would fall to criticising him. I had occasion, for instance, to deliver a lecture at Cawnpore. As it was stated in the announcement that the lecture would be on the distinctive features of the Ahmadiyya Movement, it was apprehended that only a few people would come and hear. But people came in such large numbers that all of them could not be accommodated in the place where the meeting had been arranged. There were altogether some 1500 people or more, and they were mostly enlightened people, officials and merchants. For two hours and a half they listened calmly to the lecture and even after I had sat down the audience did not stir. Perhaps they thought that I had sat down for a pause. At last it was announced that the lecture was over and that people might depart. Then there was a clamour for the lecturer to stand up, as there were many who wished to shake hands with him. I marked also that many who had during the day called me a kafir to my face, now pushed forward and not only shook hands with me but also kissed my hands. The reason why so few attended my lectures at Lucknow and Benares and so many attended them at Cawnpore seemed to lie in the fact that at the first two places I was unknown to the people whereas at Cawnpore, on account of the presence of many Punjabi traders, a section of the people knew and respected our family. This induced them to come and attend the lecture, and then truth was able to enter their hearts and their former regard was further enhanced.
In short, the Community at this time suffered from a conflict between two opposite attitudes. This state of affairs continued for about two years. It was now 1912—a memorable year in the annals of Ahmadiyya Movement. This year certain events took place which have since exercised a lasting influence upon its history, and it was in this year, as I think, that foundation was laid of dissensions in the Movement, and it happened in this wise. During this year Khwaja Kamaluddin lost his wife. To forget the loss, he proposed to go out on a tour throughout India. It was, however, publicly announced that the tour was intended to collect subscriptions for the furtherance of the objects of the Ahmadiyya Movement. The deputation visited various provinces and cities and at last reached Bombay. There they put up in the house of a certain rich Ahmadi. This Ahmadi had at the time some business pending in England, for which he was looking for a reliable agent. He offered to pay Khwaja Sahib a considerable sum in addition to his passage and other expenses if Khwaja Sahib would go and look after his affairs. The attraction, which a visit to England possesses for an Indian, persuaded Khwaja Sahib not to let this opportunity go, and he, therefore, accepted the offer.
A reference to this was made by the Badr in its issue of 5th September 1912 in the following words. "In the course of this tour, God has brought to Khwaja Sahib a certain opportunity which will enable him presently to start on a visit to England." The same fact seems to underlie the instructions given by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I (ra) to Khwaja Sahib at the time of his departure for England. For, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih (ra) said: "While you are there, you must also serve the faith to the best of your power." (the Paigham-e-Sulh Vol. 1, No. I, p. 3). Khwaja Sahib had all along aspired after fame. He wished to make the best use of the opportunity which now presented itself to him.
Therefore, without letting the public know the real arrangements, he announced that in the course of the tour he had come to realise the importance of the need of preaching Islam in England, and that for this purpose he was going to give up his large legal practice and was starting for England to proclaim the word of Allah. The truth of the matter was known only to a few. No sooner, however, was the announcement made than from all sides arose a chorus of praise and admiration for the great sacrifice Khwaja Sahib was going to make and even in his lifetime Khwaja Sahib began to be regarded as a kind of religious martyr.
Nor was Khwaja Sahib content with spreading only oral reports. He caused an announcement to be published in the Zamińdar saying: "It has been said that some rich Seth (merchant) or Anjuman or some non-Ahmadi nobleman is sending me to England. The report is entirely unfounded. I am going after relinquishing my practice for the sake of proclaiming the word of God." In phrasing this announcement, care was taken to qualify the word 'nobleman' by the word 'non-Ahmadi' and technically the announcement had been made secure against all attack. It was not a Seth nor an Anjuman nor a non-Ahmadi nobleman who was sending him to England. It was an Ahmadi nobleman. Khwaja Sahib did not wish people to connect his visit to England with the instrumentality of any Ahmadi nobleman. He wished to create the impression that he was going out not on business nor in consideration of any fees received from a wealthy client but at his own expense and at the sacrifice of his professional work and only in order to proclaim the name of God and overthrow all ungodliness from the world. "I fear, O wayfarer thou shalt not reach the Kaaba. For the path thou art treading leads to Turkistan!"
It has been said in defence of Khwaja Sahib that the gentleman who provided Khwaja Sahib’s expenses wished to remain anonymous. But did this gentleman also wish to broadcast the wholly false impression that Khwaja Sahib was going to England at his own expense, at the loss of his profession and for the sake of the propagation of Islam? Supposing that Khwaja Sahib had started for England without having made any such announcement, was there any likelihood of the public coming to know that it was any particular gentleman who had sent him to England? The affair was a secret and no non-Ahmadis and only a few Ahmadis knew anything about it, and the few who knew could not at all be misled by any false reports. What purpose, then, could there possibly be in making the announcement except pure vanity? For, as the Holy Qur’an puts it. "They love to be praised for that which they have not done." In short, Khwaja Sahib left for England, and after his departure, his friends most actively began to advertise that he had thrown up a flourishing practice for the sake of preaching Islam in England, and that it was the duty therefore of every Muslim to render him assistance. Khwaja Sahib already had with him money enough to pay for a two years stay in England. But now efforts began to be made to raise funds in case Khwaja Sahib wanted to stay longer.
This was the beginning of Khwaja Sahib’s mission to England. His departure served to allay the growing discontent in the Community at his apathy towards the propagation of Ahmadiyyat, and at his adoption of a policy which, it was felt, threatened the obliteration of the distinctive features of the Movement. The apparent sacrifice made by Khwaja Sahib led the Community to rally round him again. Only a few knew what the true state of affairs was. It was at this time that an opportunity arose for me to proceed on pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Egypt. I had it in mind to spend a year or two in Egypt, but after the completion of the Hajj difficulties arose in the way of a visit to Egypt, and I decided to return to
India. During this journey, I found such opportunities of praying to God that I am inclined to think they played their part in saving the Ahmadiyya Community from the dissolution which the dissensions threatened.
Khwaja Sahib had not been many days in England before he met a European lady, the wife of an Indian Muslim, who had, through the influence of her husband, already made a certain approach towards Islam. Khwaja Sahib preached to her and induced her to make a public declaration of her conversion to Islam. The event was widely advertised by Khwaja Sahib and a general impression was created that he was doing very useful work. In order to attract the notice of Ahmadis, Khwaja Sahib gave out that the lady’s adoption of Islam was the fulfilment of a vision of the Promised Messiah (as). That vision was to the effect that the Promised Messiah (as) had gone to England and caught some white birds. Thus wrote the Promised Messiah (as):
''I saw that I stood in the city of London engaged in explaining the truth of Islam in a well reasoned address in the English language. After that I caught many birds perched on small trees. They were white and their size was that of the partridge. I interpreted this as signifying that although I might not visit the country personally, my writings would find circulation among its people, and many a right minded Englishman would accept the truth of Islam." (Izala’-e-Auham Vol. 2)